


Supernatural 3.16 review

by yourlibrarian



Series: Supernatural Reviews [19]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Episode Review, Episode: s03e16 No Rest for the Wicked, Gen, Nonfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-26 19:34:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30110946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourlibrarian/pseuds/yourlibrarian
Summary: Originally posted May 16, 2008.
Series: Supernatural Reviews [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2202249
Kudos: 1
Collections: March Meta Matters Challenge





	Supernatural 3.16 review

So, the finale. I think I can sum it up by saying that I was with them for some of it, but the plot holes, ay ya yay. Granted, they didn't have much time to prepare for it, but this season's finale was pretty underwhelming even compared to last year's. This didn't have to do with budget or cast, but with what the storyline did and didn't cover.

We started out this season with three issues that were raised in the S2 finale. They were:

(1) Is Dean going to die and go to hell?  
(2) Is Sam part demon and will he give in to that side of himself?  
(3) What's going to happen in the demon war?

The S3 premiere addressed all these issues and added two more:

(4) Who is Ruby and what does she want?  
(5) Will Sam die as a result of trying to help Dean?

And then episode 2 added yet a third new issue:

(6) Why were all Mary's friends and relatives killed off? What is her significance and how does that relate to Sam's position now?

The only question we really got an answer to was 5, although it may have raised as many questions as it answered. We don't know when and how Lilith became the owner of all these deals, we don't know how they work (or more to the point, we may have been more sure up until the last episode), and we don't know what would constitute a breach of contract. It's possible we've been left in the dark about that deliberately, because the answer is going to play into how Dean gets rescued. But it's also possible that this is something that's been muddied and overlooked in the same way that we don't know how the Colt and Ruby's knife work, how demons get around, and so on.

Ostensibly the answer to #1 is also yes, given we saw the hellhound attack and Dean's apparent death. But unless he's going to be written out of the show, I'm assuming for now that that's not really the case. As my SO pointed out, it's implied that's not what happened. Rather, as we go into Dean's eye and then see him hanging, suspended among strings, calling for help to Sam (whom he's been telling all along to let him go), he wondered if Dean isn't somehow comatose, and what we're seeing is happening in his head -– the strings in fact being neurons and the electrical flashes being his brain. It would make sense, though how someone can go into a coma in those circumstances someone with more medical knowledge would have to answer. I could suppose that Dean wasn't actually dead yet when Lilith did her flashy thing and the failure of it to take for whatever reason may also have somehow suspended Dean between worlds. It's also possible that we'll see Dean trapped in his own body as a demon takes possession (maybe that's where Ruby's gone?) We definitely seem to have been promised that Dean's going to become a demon. Ultimately I think that final scene raises new questions rather than leaving things more settled.

So what did we get? I imagine there were some squeals of delight as the recap used "Carry On" again. It seemed clearly to focus on Dean this time as I think much of the season has. The only problem is that the song is a cruel lie. Dean's not really done, nor is he going to be at rest. If he was, maybe everyone could live with that.

So, we start off with Dean's dream of being chased by hellhounds. The scene's ok, but it could have been shorter. Given that we never saw the hellhounds there's a limit to how frightening this could be. Yes, I know sometimes the unseen is more frightening than the seen, but that only works when there's suspense built up. There wasn't any here, unless viewers happened to think they were watching something that was actually taking place.

Is it my imagination or does JA seem gaunter somehow in this episode? I could imagine that would be deliberate, make him look physically like he's at the end of his tether. Although given the way Dean eats, gaunt is not something you'd expect!

So there's some sort of last minute push, and the guys have met up with Bobby, and apparently they're seeking out Lilith in lieu of having any other alternatives. Given that dealing with Lilith didn't work out too well for Bela, I don't know why they expected it to go any better for them since Bela had had the Colt and they (did not as yet) have a knife.

I have to say I was hopeful that Sam's one-thousandth repetition that he was going to save Dean and keep him from going to hell was finally going to play out. Rewatching the episode now and hearing him say it yet again just grates given that it's still just talk. As we end this season Sam seems much less to be on some hero's journey and much more in a retelling of Hamlet. Everyone around him dies while he dithers. The one thing that saves this scene, as it saves the whole show every week, is the way the two actors play off one another, giving meaning to the things we hear over and over.

It seems Dean is resigned and just wants to die fighting, so not having a plan doesn't seem to bother him much. In the end, anyway, because at first he's totally against them charging in there with nothing, and then he accepts both Bobby and Sam accompanying him on his suicide mission. I don't get what's changed but I guess those hallucinations aren't the only irrational thing going on in Dean's head. The one thing I think is clear is that Dean doesn't want his sacrifice to mean nothing. It was all about saving Sam, and if Sam ends up on a path to hell as well, then Dean has lost regardless. And Sam has yet to tell him what's occurred since Dean died and returned to him. Once Dean is gone there really won't be anything to hold Sam back and it was implied that Dean's all that's doing it.

I did think it was interesting that in an episode where Dean tells Sam not to repeat past mistakes we see Sam doing a summoning ritual, just like John did way back when to start this whole cycle off. (And don't I think it's ironic that Dean's final words to Sam are about remembering what John and Dean taught him). So Ruby appears and seems about to talk Sam into activating his abilities, though what she could teach him in 20 hours or so that would help, who knows? Maybe she just didn't want him to wipe her out of existence by accident with wild powers going off everywhere.

I am willing to buy Ruby's explanation for why she said nothing about Lilith to Sam sooner. Given that he charged off half-cocked to confront the Crossroads Demon and shot her, it's not unreasonable for her to have protected them by keeping that information to herself. I'm also willing to buy the idea that she lied to Dean. Keeping Dean desperate is a way to get Sam more willing to go to any extremes. Besides, had she told Dean that yes there was a way, he would have demanded an explanation whereas Sam (for whatever reason) has not. Telling him she doesn't is a way to keep him off her back at a time (in Malleus) where he doesn't see her as a particular threat. I also like the way she gives as good as she gets. Where does Dean get off calling her "slutty" out of the many more legitimate and less hypocritical insults he could dish out? And while Dean's little turnaround with the knife was a nice surprise, just how did Dean paint the devil's trap on the ceiling without anyone knowing in the limited time he must have had since the three way talk over the pendulum? Or did he do so some time ago (in which case how would he know she would appear there?)

Whatever, Ruby's stuck, Sam and Dean head off with Dean still believing she was lying and Sam still believing she wasn't. Since it appears Ruby is dead now, I guess we'll never know. The body is dead of course (and might have been even before Bobby shot it) and Ruby has been banished (though to where may be important). So mystery #4 remains unresolved -– what was Ruby up to all along, and is she coming back? I can't imagine she'll come back as Katie Cassidy, unless the season premiere picks up very soon after the finale leaves off. Ruby could be written back in some other way though. As Ruby mentions to both of them, there are all sorts of things about her that they don't know. And this seems odd to me. Sam wants answers to so many things, he's a collector of knowledge, and they're fighting a demon war. Why hasn't he asked sooner, pressed harder, for answers about the enemy they're fighting? Why, as a sign of good will, has he not asked Ruby questions such as how she gets around and about Dean's deal sooner? And of course, Mystery #6 regarding Mary has been totally unexplored since it was raised in The Kids Are Alright and he's never brought that up again either. I'm willing to grant that it would have been dealt with in one of our missing 6 episodes, just as we would have seen Ellen again, would have found out more about Bela and Ruby, etc. But I would have been feeling more sure of that had this season actually fulfilled its starting mission.

After Ruby gets left in the barn we have the second of several speeches about Dean's impending death, and, I think, the better one. Dean knows the deal was a mistake and the only way to salvage it is to keep Sam from making the same one. And it's not like Sam hasn't learned anything from Dean, look at how he undercuts the moment at the end *g *

This is followed by Bobby's declaration that they are his family and off they all go. I found this interesting in one fashion. When "Bobby" appeared to Sam at the end of Mystery Spot and said he was willing to die to get Dean back for Sam because he was old and nearing the end of his life, I thought it was out of character (and it would seem Sam did too). Yet this action by Bobby is tantamount to the same thing, if less maudlin. I can't help wondering if this statement about being family (which Dean already told us in Dream) isn't going to end up playing out the same way as in IMToD did, with Bobby somehow dying to save Dean in the premiere. His fate is pretty uncertain since we don't know where he went after turning the sprinklers into holy water dispensers.

I was pretty sure a lot of people were thrilled at Dean forestalling any "socially awkward" moments by singing along to the sometimes rocking Bon Jovi, and even more so by having Sam join in (reminding me for all the world of a baying hound). It was fun even if a little drawn out. What's even funnier though is that as soon as I saw that shot of the Impala driving with her taillight out I thought "I wonder if they're going to get pulled over for that." Which they then did. And then I wondered if the cop would turn out to be a demon. Which he then was. I was rather disappointed to discover that Dean was right. I thought it would have been much more interesting to have Dean jumping the gun and killing an innocent person because as the hour approaches he is becoming paranoid and unreliable (which would have given Sam yet another reason not to listen to him). But, no.

I am assuming that the whole purpose of that scene was for them to explain how Dean can tell a demon is possessing someone. And I am further assuming that the whole point of that was so that we understand how he knows that Lilith was in the little girl. They couldn't have known this was typical for her because they weren't at the police station meltdown, and, of course, because Ruby has failed to mention this to them even though she obviously knows who and where she is! And I am yet further assuming that this was because, as I noted in the last episode, despite the many, many times children have been in jeopardy (or the cause of it) in 3 seasons, not one of them has been killed on the show. I can only assume that this is some sort of network mandate -- that children's deaths may not be shown -- because I can't understand why a horror show wouldn't go there. And sure enough, yet again in this case, the child lives. On the one hand, I kind of understand this, because working with a child actor in those scenes could really undercut the drama if the child couldn't hold her own. I think the show missed an interesting opportunity to have a face-off between Sam and a small child. This would have been one way to have made this twist pay off. But we don't get it, and as such I wish they'd abandoned this idea completely because it didn't go anywhere. I have to confess the creepiness of the child and her family really didn't work for me. I found those scenes somewhat tedious. The idea of a demon leader wanting some R&R wasn't unreasonable, and as a joke it was wryly amusing for a few minutes, but it just dragged for me. YMMV. I thought the entire birthday cake scene could have been skipped with no loss to the episode.

Back to the cop car issue though, the scene of them hiding it takes up yet more time with exposition. Where, pray tell, would they have conveniently found so many broken branches to cover the car with? Were they out there for half an hour hacking away with machetes? More importantly they're in a hurry, WHY BOTHER? Isn't it likely someone would realize something was up simply because the cop fails to check in? Was this all just for the Car 54 joke payoff?

Another unexplained bit is when Lilith enters Ruby. The obvious time seems to be when she and Sam separate upstairs. Why would the mother, who seemed to be awake the whole time, still want her daughter killed when she knew Lilith had exited the little girl? As we see later on, Lilith does so in a noisy cloud of black smoke just like any other demon. Wouldn't that have also woken the child up? I must assume it was Ruby entering the house with them because Dean notices the change between Ruby (as he sees her outdoors) and then Lilith indoors (albeit belatedly.)

So we have everyone remaining silent –- mother, child and Ruby –- for the sake of Sam dithering as to whether or not to kill the child, even as the mother keeps urging him to. I'm going to come back to this later in a separate essay. In the meantime we can see why Ruby's knife is far more useful in some ways than the Colt. Not only does it not run out of bullets but it is noiseless as we've seen in their attack on the house. The father turns up as we go inside and I assume Dean knows he's not a demon because he can see this, and I also assume the father resists going without his wife because we need Dean to separate from the other two. This is a change in that it's usually Sam who deals with the victims while Dean goes after the monsters. But we need to have Dean away from Lilith because he would have immediately recognized that she was only a child. Of course, given that "Ruby" later tells him that she wouldn't wish his fate on her worst enemy and Ruby had been screaming only hours before that she wished she could see him burning, something should have clicked for him. But we just get the lame explanation that they all look alike, even though he'd noted how hideous Lilith was when she was in the child.

Ok, whatever, we then get told we're not going to get an answer to Question #3, what's going to happen with the demon war. Instead we get Dean's attack as Sam watches, and then Sam's not-death. And here we still don't get an answer to #2. It seems Sam's powers aren't going to come back, at least in any intentional way. Whether he is part demon or not, we also don't know. Rather what we get is another continuing mystery for next season. Why didn't he die? He certainly doesn't seem to have done anything to stop her. Nor does he attempt to track her once she flees Ruby's body, and we know via Ava that had his powers been kicking in he should have been able to yank her around in whatever way he wanted.

I have an idea though. I wonder if Sam's potential to lead demons is because he can not be killed by demons, at least not unless they're possessing a human body and the human kills them. Perhaps this is why the YED kids had to kill off one another, because the demons couldn't do it. Perhaps that's what his immunity in Croatoan revealed. Of course it doesn't explain why he can be pinned to a wall just as easily as anyone else but I'm going to fanwank it that what Lilith does has something to do with coming apart on a cellular level and that Sam's demon blood infection prevents that from happening.

So far I've seen everyone assuming that the reason Lilith doesn't kill Sam at the end is because Sam's powers have somehow kicked in to block her. Which may yet be the case, but you'd think they would have done so just a minute earlier when he screamed desperately for her to stop the hellhound attack. It seems a particularly unfortunate writing issue to have Sam, promising to save Dean all season, finally saving only himself in the end (and not in any way he understands). I wondered: what if Sam still hasn't actually done anything? What if Lilith's inability to kill him has nothing to do with Sam but everything to do with the details of the Deal contract? If Lilith kills Sam wouldn't this invalidate Dean's deal which she holds? I saw some discussion of this after Time when everyone was wondering why Lilith would make the deal to resurrect Sam if she wanted him dead? I assumed at the time that the contracts were part of what Lilith has acquired in her power grab, which postdated the deal since it was made while Azazel was still alive. Casey says that there's been a power vacuum since, and Lilith is a growing power during the season.

So is this perhaps how the Deal will be broken? So long as Dean is in hell, Lilith is unable to act against Sam. If she cancels it and brings him back, Sam is open to attack. Perhaps Dean being Sam's "weakness" is rather literal in this case. He may be invulnerable to most attacks so long as the contract is in force. For that matter, although Sam has been attacked numerous times this season, do we know that he can be killed at all now?


End file.
